When Love Dies, Revenge Blooms

When Love Dies, Revenge Blooms

Xiao Ye

4.0
Comment(s)
14K
View
10
Chapters

My husband accused me of putting his assistant in the hospital. He claimed the AC I turned on, despite her protests, caused her to collapse from severe cramps. I was eight months pregnant and the office was dangerously hot, but he still blamed me. To "make it up to me," he invited me to a party at an exclusive club. I woke up on the floor of a glass-walled freezer. Outside, my husband, Austen, stood with his arm wrapped around a perfectly healthy Deb. He raised a glass to the city's elite, toasting to "cooling down" his hot-headed wife. They watched as his men stripped me to my underwear and forced my bare knees onto a floor of ice. They poured buckets of freezing water over my head and my pregnant belly until I felt a warm trickle between my legs. I was bleeding. I was losing our baby. While I lay there, Austen pounded on the glass, screaming at me to apologize, to tell him I forgave him so he wouldn't have to be the monster. He sneered that I was all alone, that my father was dead and no one was coming to save me.

Chapter 1

My husband accused me of putting his assistant in the hospital.

He claimed the AC I turned on, despite her protests, caused her to collapse from severe cramps. I was eight months pregnant and the office was dangerously hot, but he still blamed me. To "make it up to me," he invited me to a party at an exclusive club.

I woke up on the floor of a glass-walled freezer.

Outside, my husband, Austen, stood with his arm wrapped around a perfectly healthy Deb. He raised a glass to the city's elite, toasting to "cooling down" his hot-headed wife.

They watched as his men stripped me to my underwear and forced my bare knees onto a floor of ice. They poured buckets of freezing water over my head and my pregnant belly until I felt a warm trickle between my legs.

I was bleeding. I was losing our baby.

While I lay there, Austen pounded on the glass, screaming at me to apologize, to tell him I forgave him so he wouldn't have to be the monster.

He sneered that I was all alone, that my father was dead and no one was coming to save me.

Chapter 1

The air in Austen Nolan's office was thick and hot, sticking to my skin like a second layer. At eight months pregnant, the heat felt suffocating, a heavy blanket pressing down on me and my unborn child. I walked over to the thermostat, my hand reaching for the cool setting.

"Please don't."

The voice was soft but firm. I turned to see Deb Noble, my husband's personal assistant, standing by her desk. She had a pained look on her face.

"I'm on my period," she said, her voice a little shaky. "The cold air makes my cramps unbearable."

I looked at her, then at the sealed windows of the high-rise office. The sun baked the glass. I could feel sweat trickling down my back. My baby was my priority.

"It's over eighty-five degrees in here, Deb. It's not safe for me."

I turned back to the AC unit and switched it on. A blast of cool air rushed out, and I took a deep, grateful breath. Deb said nothing else, just watched me with an expression I couldn't quite read.

That evening, Austen came home. He didn't kiss me or ask about the baby. He walked straight into the living room where I was sitting and stood over me, his face a mask of anger.

"What did you do to Deb?" he demanded.

I looked up at him, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"She's in the emergency room," he said, his voice rising. "The cold air you blasted at her today caused severe cramps. She collapsed at her desk in pain. All because you couldn't handle a little warmth."

My jaw dropped. The sheer absurdity of his accusation stunned me.

"A little warmth? Austen, it was dangerously hot in your office. I'm carrying your child. I was worried about overheating. Deb's cramps are not my responsibility when my baby's health is at risk."

I stood up, facing him. The height difference between us felt smaller when I was angry.

"She told me she was on her period. That's it. For that, you're blaming me for her being in the hospital? Does that even make sense to you?"

He stared at me, his anger seeming to waver. He ran a hand through his hair, a gesture he used when he was trying to appear reasonable.

"You're right," he said finally, his tone softening. "Of course, you and the baby come first. I overreacted. I was just worried about Deb."

He stepped closer and put his hands on my shoulders, his touch feeling strangely cold.

"I'm sorry, Izzy."

I wanted to believe him. For the past few months, our relationship had been strained, full of a tension I couldn't name. He had become distant, ambitious in a way that felt sharp and unfamiliar. I had hoped the baby would bring us back together.

"It's just... this pregnancy is hard enough," I said, my voice softer now. "I need your support, not your accusations."

"I know," he said, pulling me into a hug. "And you have it. You always have it."

He held me, but the hug felt hollow, a performance for an audience of one. I leaned against him, trying to find the man I married, but he was nowhere to be found. I just felt the coldness of his ambition.

Still, I told myself I was being paranoid. I was pregnant and emotional. I had to trust him. I had to believe in the life we were building.

"I love you, Izzy," he whispered into my hair.

"I love you too," I replied, but the words tasted like a lie on my tongue.

Continue Reading

Other books by Xiao Ye

More
The Prank That Shattered Love

The Prank That Shattered Love

Romance

5.0

The world came back in a rush of white. White ceiling, white sheets, the sterile smell of antiseptic. My head throbbed. I was in a hospital. My fiancé, Cameron, rushed to my bedside, his face creased with worry. I decided to play a prank, pretending I had amnesia. "Who... who are you?" I whispered. His relief evaporated, replaced by a calculating look. He showed me a picture of another woman, Hannah Nichols, an intern at his family's company. "She's the woman I love," he said, his voice flat. "But you and I are getting married. Our families have an agreement. A business merger. It's too important to fail." My mind reeled. The man I loved was telling me our entire relationship was a lie. I felt a surge of fury. "Then call it off," I snapped. He grabbed my wrist, panic in his eyes. "If this merger falls through, my family is ruined. Hannah... she's very fragile. The stress would destroy her." My life, my love, my future-it was all just collateral damage in his pathetic, selfish drama. I was nothing more than a business deal. The witty, proud Alicia England, heiress to a tech empire, reduced to a bargaining chip. Later, I heard him on the phone, his voice soft and tender. "Don't worry, Hannah. It's all under control. She has amnesia. She doesn't remember a thing. Love me? Of course, she loves me. She's been obsessed with me since we were kids. It' s almost pathetic." My heart shattered. He thought I was a broken, forgetful fool he could manipulate. He was about to find out how wrong he was.

Blinded By Love, Betrayed By Him

Blinded By Love, Betrayed By Him

Modern

5.0

I was an architect, designing futures, and I finally had my own: a baby with my fiancé, Ethan Riley. Then, a brutal attack left me in darkness. Ethan told me it was a mugging, that they saved me but couldn't save my eyes. I believed him, clinging to him in my new black world. But then, one night, I overheard his cold confession: he had orchestrated it all. My blinding, the termination of my pregnancy, even the removal of my uterus, were all to secure Isabella' s future-a woman from his past he felt indebted to, who turned out to be his secret wife and mother of his child, Mia. My fiancé, the man I loved, was a monster who had meticulously planned to destroy me and replace me with his secret family. He moved his mistress and their child into our home, telling me they were a struggling friend and her daughter, expecting me to be grateful for Isabella's "care." Even his parents joined in, treating me as a discarded, blind burden. The pain, the betrayal, was unimaginable. My entire life had been a horrific stage for his twisted play. Why would he do this? How could someone I loved so deeply inflict such monstrous cruelty? But in that deepest dark, something new ignited within me. He thought he had broken me, that the darkness would be my prison. He was wrong. It would be my shield. I would play the part of the blind victim, gather my evidence, and make him pay. This wasn' t the end of my story; it was the start of a war he would never see coming.

You'll also like

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book